Main » United States detecting some Taliban interest in Afghan peace talks - Mattis

United States detecting some Taliban interest in Afghan peace talks - Mattis

13 March 2018

Mattis said the ultimate victory in Afghanistan will be a "political reconciliation" between Kabul and the Taliban, with a country capable of handling its own security.

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says small factions of Taliban forces fighting the U.S. -backed Afghan government have expressed an interest in negotiating an end to the 16-year war.

Ghani's peace plan includes eventually recognising the Taliban as a political party. "We want the Afghans to lead and provide the substance to the reconciliation effort", he told reporters.

According to an October report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction of the US Congress, 13 of the total 407 districts in Afghanistan were under Taliban control, while the rebels had a widespread presence in another 41 districts. "It's a country whose own people and their own security forces handle law enforcement and any threats... certainly with global support for some years to come", he said.

More than 3,000 additional United States forces have also arrived in Afghanistan to boost the training and advising of local troops.

They have offered to talk directly to the United States about a possible peace agreement.

The Taliban, Afghanistan's biggest militant group, claimed 472 attacks in January alone, the Washington-based terrorism research group TRAC said - an astonishing number given that the traditional fighting season does not usually start until freezing temperatures have subsided in the spring.